Preparing for the grabization

Václav Havel complained in a New Year's interview on Czech TV that the same old power groups are running the Czech economy and won't let others in. Václav Moravec of Czech TV didn't push Havel for any names, but the shake-up at the top of Czech Airlines (ČSA) this week provided a few. The switching out of Jaroslav Tvrdík for Radomír Lašák of ČEZ as president of the airline brings together ČSSD-controlled ČSA with ČEZ (the Gazprom of the CR), the I-am-the-best-banker clan from pre- privatization Komerční banka (where Lašák was a board member), and PPF (for whom Lašák ran eBanka). PPF is also a minority shareholder in ČSA. So many special interests incarnated in a single person - who was not chosen through a professional search process - must necessarily raise Havel-like warning flags about what the přivlastnizace of ČSA holds in store for the CR. [Czech Republic Czech Television Radovan Vávra]